It was due to her initiative that the monastery of Ogjen Czoling in the Himalayas was renovated. At the age of nine she was sent to school in India where she learnt English. Later she studied psychology in Delhi and sociology in Nebraska. She worked in the United Nations programme for the development of Bhutan. Currently she resides in Thimphu, the capital of Bhutan. Her first novel „The Circle of Karma” (2005) is set in the 1950’s during the period of Bhutanese modernization which was the basis of the politics practiced by the royal family. The heroine has to contend with the traditional restrictive division of social roles in Bhutanese society as well as with new forms of sexism appearing together with men’s economic emancipation. She is also the author of „Chilli and Cheese, Food and Society in Bhutan”, a socio-cultural study of the beliefs and rituals associated with food preparation and consumption and their meaning for the community.
Kunzang Choden
April 27, 2012, 1:52 p.m.
Kunzang Choden (born 1952), a Bhutanese princess and author. She is the first woman from Bhutan to publish stories in English and has also published fairy tales and collections of Bhutanese folk tales.